The Staff Feedback Thread! [read the first post!]

[moon]

compliments thread, diary of what nice things has been done to you today etc thread ideas

I just have to say something about this. I don't think it's a good idea. You are all focusing and worrying too much about what others think of you. Online, of all places! Showing appreciation should be done genuinely by complimenting a person because you want to and have the balls to do it. Not because there's a place where you might even be expected to post something because someone might think you're not appreciative otherwise (ok that was a bad case future scenario but still). And if you don't have the balls to compliment someone when you think they deserve it, via PM or VM or by liking a post or by post comments (it's what I do quite often) then just don't! It's no big deal.

getting-to-know-staff more kind of thread idea

Good idea. Like "Meet the staff". Just with a little form that mods can fill in (with every field being optional, of course) like age, location, occupation, twitter, tumblr, main interests, favorite word, favorite soup I dunno. And probably a little field where the staff member can type up 100 words or so with a little presentation.

That way there would be an easily accessible place where we can look up who's really controlling our favorite section when a new mod suddenly pops up on the forum leader's page. And smods and admins too, since we maybe don't see admins out posting around sections as much as the local mods and therefore they naturally might feel a bit more unapproachable. Really, it doesn't have to be more complicated than that, no walls of texts (that's what the biographies on their profiles are for if they want, right?) and no members poking their posts into the thread asking stuff they could do in a friendly, personal convo via VM.

The reason I can see for having a thread where a mod makes one such post each (and I guess it gets deleted if they are demodded) is to keep this interesting info in one place rather than have members click around the mod's profiles to check it out, where some things might not be listed anyways. (wasn't there such a thread in the staff forum couple of years ago? I bet it's there still. That was just with contact info though, this could be more fun-like perhaps)


I just kind of mostly wanted to react to this new view a lot of you seem to have - that everything should be questioned and evaluated and personally discussed. Just... We come here in our free time to blow off some steam or whatever. Not to live a second life. lol as if I've not been living my second life here Hope you get what I'm trying to say and not just see this as garble garble rant derp.

:]

 

[Melody]

I'm reminded of something that used to be on a forum I'm a member of a long time back. Basically there was a section which was full of threads just asking the thread's creator questions about them, chatting about the answers, etc. If anyone's a Reddit user, sort of similar to IAMA threads. They weren't strictly member fanclubs per se since the aim of those threads was to get to know users rather than to kiss the ground they walk on, but I think you get the idea. They were essentially used to get to know interesting and influential members of the community as well as... just about anyone else, really.

Does this make sense, and how would anyone feel about such a thing on PokéCommunity? Or is it kinda over-the-top? Just a (probably horrible lol) suggestion which I may as well as throw out there.

I honestly think that's a great idea. Especially for those members here on PC who simply don't have a blog to use because they're too young to donate themselves! Heck, sometimes it makes sense to have a thread...just because. Post count wouldn't have to matter there either...and you could use a thread like that to interact with people.

Yes, we do have VMs, but not everyone wants to VM silly questions. That and having a thread about one's self would enable people to basically give sort of an expanded bio or whatever other information is pertinent. You could go to town on the CSS and formatting and really list out everything you want to! (Within reason of course) Personally I think VMs are simply better for a quick and non-intrusive message to others, but I would like to have a place I can point the newbies to

But we have blogs right?, some people do anyways. Not everyone can donate, because they're too young. Sometimes even sneaking out a letter to Steve with a few weeks of allowance might be something a kid can't get away with easily. 5000 posts is a pretty tall order too, if you just want a blog and have to attend school 8 hours a day and spend 4 hours on homework too.

 

[Echidna]

Wow, both Kura's and Harry's ideas are great! An appreciation thread and a get-to-know-your-fellow-member section! Of course imo, posts shouldn't count in either because they could get pretty SPAMy in a sense. But yes, I do agree that both these ideas could help promote friendliness around the forums as well as remove any of those rank-barriers that newer members see.

 

[Honest]

Oh, I forgot to say that I do like Harry's idea. Possibly more so than Kura's simply because it's something that people can look back on. I don't know about you, but I'd like to be able to go back to the compliments I get and smile. I hope that doesn't make me sound egotistical or anything.

 

[Oryx]

Disagree. The same problem could occur within IRC as well, and arguably it could actually be worse. Consider this: You're pushing for activity for the IRC (which is understandable, of course!), but the huge problem with that is that so many people can be talking at once

You haven't been on the IRC lately have you? It's pretty much a ghost town. There's no danger of there being too much activity.

 

[Oryx]

Sorry, I didn't mean it that way at all. :( It was meant as a joke, since it's so completely dead.

 

[droomph]

How about some sort of "Question Box" thing?

I don't know if this is even a good idea honestly, but I'll just throw it out there.

On the IRC, you send a PM to the person that's the questioned, and if they want to, they can answer the question in public.

…yeah, something like that

 

[Sydian]

I hate to be a butt but um...isn't this whole thread topic about this thread thing kinda...detracting from the point of this thread? We're not exactly discussing staff feedback anymore so...just thought I'd say something...

 

[Kura]

Disagree. The same problem could occur within IRC as well, and arguably it could actually be worse. Consider this: You're pushing for activity for the IRC (which is understandable, of course!), but the huge problem with that is that so many people can be talking at once, and not everyone's questions could ever really be answered (in a timely manner, or otherwise). If possible, then the staff could allow exceptions within the revival rule as well as the double-posting rule, allowing staff themselves to revive their AMAs if they died, or to bump it if it becomes too inactive, things of that nature.

I hope I got this right. @_@

Hmm that could be true enough, really.. so what is another solution? If we're going to consider the Questions/ AMA threads, would there have to be a section for it? Or would it just be like one big thread in OT like "Ask the below user a question" sorta thing? But.. now that I think of it, don't we have that already or something similar?


Edit: My bad, is there a way we can move it onto a new thread/ make a new thread about it and move these posts into the new thread?

Sorry for derailing the convo, I didn't expect this to happen.

 

[bobandbill]

If you want you can go for a new thread in this section to discuss the ideas and maybe collect them together in the one post, it's already getting a bit hard to follow it all haha.

 

[Nihilego]

Indeed.

Anyway, onward with the staff feedback, please! :D

 

[Kura]

I don't mean to specifically bring the convo back to making threads, but if the staff bio thread isn't going to happen, do we happen to have a "What is a Moderator" thread? I mean.. we stress this is a kids forum.. and even I didn't know what some of the higher staff of H staff actually do. Maybe not as its own thread, but in the FAQ we can just give a little description of what a mod is there for vs. what higher staff is there for and what their responsibilities generally are?
Either that or it could be put in the staff bio thread on the top as an add-on. :3 Just a thought about it to help give the members more insight if you wanted.

Also.. not sure about this, but are there going to be official blog rules posted? Or am I just blind and they are here already? >_> I hope posting this here is okay anyways.


I'd also like to welcome Bloodex as staff too. I think you guys made an awesome choice as he's a really friendly guy, approachable, easy to talk to and patient, and unbiased too! :3 Welcome as Mod, Bloodex!!

 

[Echidna]

I don't mean to specifically bring the convo back to making threads, but if the staff bio thread isn't going to happen, do we happen to have a "What is a Moderator" thread? I mean.. we stress this is a kids forum.. and even I didn't know what some of the higher staff of H staff actually do. Maybe not as its own thread, but in the FAQ we can just give a little description of what a mod is there for vs. what higher staff is there for and what their responsibilities generally are?
Either that or it could be put in the staff bio thread on the top as an add-on. :3 Just a thought about it to help give the members more insight if you wanted.

https://www.pokecommunity.com/faq.php?faq=pokecommunity_faq#faq_positions?

Also.. not sure about this, but are there going to be official blog rules posted? Or am I just blind and they are here already? >_> I hope posting this here is okay anyways.

Blogs

Your blog is like your online diary, for all members to see (you're free to fine-tune your privacy options, however). You're allowed to blog about anything, whether it's about the new Pokémon game you've just bought, commentary on something that's happened in the news, your PokéCommunity life, or anything else. Blogs are available to Tier 2 Community Supporters and staff members, as well as members who have accumulated 5000 posts or more. The PokéCommunity forum-wide rules apply to both blog entries and comments.

Try to keep your comments positive.
Please keep unnecessarily negative, rude, or meaningless comments to yourself and off the blogs.

Avoid posting more than one blog entry in the same day.
So that others don't have to filter through several meaningless blog entries from the same person, try to post only one entry within the span of a day. If you're the most recent blogger, you should simply add more to your blog post rather than create a new entry.

Word and character limits don't apply.
You should try and ensure that you have meaningful blog posts or comments, but note that we won't be enforcing the four word rule or 25-character limits in blogs.

Do not give out any personal information.
Giving out information such as your full name, your address or telephone number can be very dangerous online. Be cautious when sharing information.

 

[Kura]

Ooh thanks for that Pedro! I really am blind LOL!

Maybe the rules should be updated to include like.. no snarky blogs about members? I remember a few of them posted over the last few months and them getting deleted so it might be good idea to update it in the rules?

 

[Echidna]

Ooh thanks for that Pedro! I really am blind LOL!

Maybe the rules should be updated to include like.. no snarky blogs about members? I remember a few of them posted over the last few months and them getting deleted so it might be good idea to update it in the rules?

I remember one a long time ago that pissed me off really. Some guy took a screenshot of something he deemed 'stupid' and apparently worthy of public humiliation, posted it and commented on it and It wasn't even deleted either u_u

And don't worry about it xD

 

[Cherrim]

Ooh thanks for that Pedro! I really am blind LOL!

Maybe the rules should be updated to include like.. no snarky blogs about members? I remember a few of them posted over the last few months and them getting deleted so it might be good idea to update it in the rules?

The forumwide rules apply to blogs (I guess that line could be bolded but since every aspect of PC usually contains the line "all PC rules apply here", it never really seemed important). Anything mean/rude to members would fall under the "Respect all members" rule so I don't think it needs to be repeated so specifically under blogs.

Though I guess changing the "keep your comments positive" rule to encompass both blog entries and comments wouldn't really hurt. I don't really like the wording on that one because I don't think it gets the essence of what the rule means, which is not to be malicious in any way. (Because you can still have a comment that's technically negative but still polite and constructive that would be within the rules.)

 

[Alex]

Good job reforming the off-topic forum.

 

[Elaitenstile]

Well honestly I think it's a real hard time for you mods out there especially since you have to be on guard all the time. I mean like, you'll always have to deal with problems with off-boarders and stuff and I respect our staff for such wonderful handling of the community. Nothing better can be done to improve stuff around here, and all the mods are constantly friendly (I'm just quoting what's everyone's opinion).

So, I'll say almost all of the staff people quite frankly intimidate me. And a lot, too. I think other people would feel that way too no matter how friendly/helpful you guys are. Maybe because I don't pick up much conversations or something, but it scares you off to see the Staff's badge below your name. In fact, I'm gonna be real scared right now posting this here.

Of course, I really think that the staff get very active around here, and one thing I really like is that one second and BOOM. There's a mod switch. No warning, no rumors, nothing. Information never leaks out until it's made public. That's pretty tight and I think that's way too cool.

Fortunately, it seems ALWAYS that the right person for the job has the specified position. That way you guys seem to get the people's interest without consulting them.

I think the best stuff I like is all the group activities and things, and this gives loads of opportunities for people to participate and feel part of this community.

I'd like to see more of these kinds of activities around here, tho.

And I think we could expand the non-Pokémon forums more, even though this is a very Pokémon based community, it seems there are loads of things we could talk about to boot.

 

[Ben.]

Some feedback on all the staff in general
You should really inform the community on happening such as promotion/demotion/LoA. It seems at the minute the only information on this is for promotions is a little thread in the celebrations with huge text. Demotions there is really nothing, and LoA's are only known on vm's by talking to the person with a vm saying "err ma gerr ur not a mod :O" I honestly think it'd be so much nicer to be told about some being promoted and why. I've seen people get promoted with no other due reason than their post count.* Obviously LoA may be more personal and the person may not want to share why, which is perfect understandable. Maybe just interactive with the community, even a thread of these things.
*You can't tell me I'm wrong because no one has told the community any different.

 

[Ivysaur]

I can accept adding promotions/demotions in the update thread -in fact, when we discussed what should go there we talked about this very point and in the end we didn't go ahead because there was kind of a split on the staff, although we can certainly go ahead if there is a general member support for ir.

I honestly think it'd be so much nicer to be told about some being promoted and why. I've seen people get promoted with no other due reason than their post count.

Oh, but the general rule of thumb IS written in the FAQ:

Moderators are chosen for their assets to the forum. If you would like to be a potential candidate, be sure to be kind, helpful, and make smart, quality posts. Don't spam and respect all those around you. When a moderator is needed in one of the areas you are constantly active in, you may be asked.

The Modding forum is full of threads with "X guy reports a lot and is very active in Y and writes a lot of thoughtful TL,DR's so let's promote them". Really. We generally watch all forums (or ask the mods who are supposed to), check for regular members who stand out and then discuss them. If a majority of us are satisfied, we go ahead. Is "having a lot of postcount" a valid reason? Not by itself, but it certainly shows activity and interest, which are two things we do value. Then again, we have modded people with less than 600 posts in two years, so postcount is never a valid reason alone.

Also I'd really like to hear names- I know it's easier to smear people when you can hide in the "well you know who I'm talking about" vagueness, but I certainly would like to know who is/are those people you think were unfairly modded, so we can defend our choices.

You can't tell me I'm wrong because no one has told the community any different.

That's called argumentum ad ignorantiam and is considered a logical fallacy. The fact that you don't know the reasons why someone was chosen does not imply that your opinions about it must be necessarily true.